It is happening to all of us again this weekend. That silly time
old and futile political tradition of trying to control time.
Australia changed October 1. Europe and others began changing
clocks Oct 27, 28, and 29. For most of the US, Sunday Nov 5, 2am
is the time to set your clock back. Fiji and Tonga set theirs
ahead one hour.
The biannual time
change was originally implemented to save energy. Yet dozens of
studies around the world have found that changing the clocks has
either minuscule or non-existent effects on energy use. In
addition, current research suggests the time change can be
harmful to our health and cost us money.
Following the 1973 oil
embargo, the US Congress extended the DST period to 10 months in
1974 and 8 months in 1975, in an effort to save energy. After
the energy crisis was over in 1976, the DST schedule in the US
was revised several times. From 1987 to 2006, the country
observed DST for about 7 months each year.
Arizona does not
observe daylight saving, but some Indian tribes within the state
do. In fact, if driving a route from the Arizona state border
through both Navajo and Hopi areas to the other side, a person
can end up changing clocks 7 times. For example: Tuba City
(Navajo) and Moenkopi (Hopi) are only a few miles apart, but
they have a 1-hour time difference during the summer. Jeddito
(Navajo), in the middle of Hopi Nation territory, is 1 hour
ahead of the surrounding areas during summer.
If a baby is born at 11
p.m. in California and another baby is born at 2 a.m. in New
York, they have different birthdays even though they were born
simultaneously.
Nov 3, 2017
Wordology, Dewlap
The extra flap of skin and fatty tissue that is under the
chin of a female rabbit is called a dewlap. The dewlap tends to
appear when female rabbits have reached the age when they can
begin to reproduce. The dewlap provides a place where the female
can pull out her own fur and use it to line her nest. The nest
is where she will sleep as well as produce and raise her
offspring.
Psycho Censors
Psycho is a genre-defining movie, regarded as one of the finest
psychological horror films of all time. The film broke new
ground in several ways.
It was also the first film to show a toilet flushing on screen. The censors objected to it and tried have the toilet scene removed, but Hitchcock objected. They eventually gave up trying to fix the film and let the toilet flush be shown. Interesting that the offending flush takes place about forty seconds before a character is brutally stabbed to death in a shower while completely naked.
Incidentally, Alfred Hitchcock staged the shower murder scene in such a way the censors could not find a specific shot that broke the censor's rules.
It was also the first film to show a toilet flushing on screen. The censors objected to it and tried have the toilet scene removed, but Hitchcock objected. They eventually gave up trying to fix the film and let the toilet flush be shown. Interesting that the offending flush takes place about forty seconds before a character is brutally stabbed to death in a shower while completely naked.
Incidentally, Alfred Hitchcock staged the shower murder scene in such a way the censors could not find a specific shot that broke the censor's rules.
Zappa Censored
Before streaming and YouTube, stickers, such as 'Explicit
Content' were considered a death sentence for certain albums as
they effectively prevented them from being sold by large chains
of stores that wanted to project a family friendly image. One
store went a bit far and put an
'explicit lyrics' sticker on an all instrumental album.
Albums could be slapped with an explicit lyrics sticker for containing a single objectionable lyric. Frank Zappa holds the dubious honor of being the only artist known to have received a parental warning sticker for explicit lyrics on an entirely instrumental album.
The Jazz from Hell album contains no lyrics. It does contain a track titled G-Spot Tornado. This was enough for the Fred Meyer chain of stores to put an explicit lyrics warning label on the album even though the entire album is lyric-less. It appears that some doth protest too much.
Albums could be slapped with an explicit lyrics sticker for containing a single objectionable lyric. Frank Zappa holds the dubious honor of being the only artist known to have received a parental warning sticker for explicit lyrics on an entirely instrumental album.
The Jazz from Hell album contains no lyrics. It does contain a track titled G-Spot Tornado. This was enough for the Fred Meyer chain of stores to put an explicit lyrics warning label on the album even though the entire album is lyric-less. It appears that some doth protest too much.
Moving Out
According to 2012 US Census data, 74 percent of people living in
Pennsylvania were born there. In addition, just 63 percent of
New Yorkers, 61 percent of Texans,
and 54 percent of
Californians, were born in the state in which they
currently resided.
Captcha This
Captcha comes from "Completely Automated Public Turing test to
tell Computers and Humans Apart". It is used by web sites to
distinguish human web users from robot spammers.
Recently, in just minutes, an artificially intelligent machine cracked ond of those jumbled text sequences. The smart machine can be trained in a matter of minutes using just a few hundred example characters, researchers said. It works with multiple different styles of captcha and can also be re-purposed to identify handwritten digits, recognize text in photos of real-world scenarios, and detect non-text objects in images. That is because the company designed the system to mimic the way the brain identifies objects after seeing just a few examples and recognize them in strange new configurations.
Text-based captchas as above work, because unlike humans, computers struggle to recognize the distorted and partially hidden characters that make them up. Though many current machine-learning systems that can solve them exist, they must be trained on millions of images to work.
Many websites have moved away from text-based captchas, and are using image-based tests and data on mouse movements, or cookies to analyze whether users are human or machine. Some captchas are also difficult for humans to accurately decipher on first try.
Recently, in just minutes, an artificially intelligent machine cracked ond of those jumbled text sequences. The smart machine can be trained in a matter of minutes using just a few hundred example characters, researchers said. It works with multiple different styles of captcha and can also be re-purposed to identify handwritten digits, recognize text in photos of real-world scenarios, and detect non-text objects in images. That is because the company designed the system to mimic the way the brain identifies objects after seeing just a few examples and recognize them in strange new configurations.
Text-based captchas as above work, because unlike humans, computers struggle to recognize the distorted and partially hidden characters that make them up. Though many current machine-learning systems that can solve them exist, they must be trained on millions of images to work.
Many websites have moved away from text-based captchas, and are using image-based tests and data on mouse movements, or cookies to analyze whether users are human or machine. Some captchas are also difficult for humans to accurately decipher on first try.
Oct 27, 2017
Happy Friday
You
cannot hide true happiness any more than you can turn off
sunlight.
Every day let your happiness shine through, especially on a Happy Friday!
Every day let your happiness shine through, especially on a Happy Friday!
Football Statistics
It is football time of the year and I dug up some interesting
statics that go far beyond the typical yards gained, passes
thrown, etc.
The average NFL game lasts about 3 hours and 11 minutes, but has about 11 minutes of actual game play. The 60-minute game clock in football can run when the ball is not in play. That means much of game time is spent standing around, walking, huddling up before each play begins, etc.
The 11 minutes of action was calculated a few years ago by the Wall Street Journal. It actually averages out to between 11 and 14 minutes of play. (Counting from the snap of the football to when the play is whistled dead.)
An average game has more than 20 breaks containing over 100 commercials.
Its analysis found that an average NFL broadcast spent more time on replays (17 minutes) than live play. The majority of time (75 minutes) was spent watching players, coaches, and referees essentially wandering around the field.
An average play in the NFL lasts just four seconds and NFL teams average between 64 and120 plays per game.
If you take the highest paid star, Matthew Stafford, Detroit Lions and his 2017 salary of $27,000,000 and divide it by game minutes played per season of 16 games - 6 * 11= 176 minutes, $27 million divided by 176 minutes comes out to $153, 409.09 per minute of play - not bad. (Of course this presumes no playoff games for them, which is usually a safe assumption for the Lions.)
The hundreds of millions paid by advertisers to networks and the hundreds of millions paid by viewers to networks and the hundreds of millions paid to teams and players cannot be calculated according to minutes played as we and they are also paying for the rest of the twaddle, not just the game.
Incidentally,
Baseball: Per a 2013 WSJ study, Baseball games feature 17 minutes and 58 seconds of action.
Basketball: Since the clock only runs when the ball is in play, there is exactly 48 minutes of play time.
Soccer: Per the Soccerbythenumbers.com website 2011 study, between 57 and 65 minutes of ball-in-play action is seen on average in the major European pro leagues per game.
Hockey: Average play time is 60 minutes.
The average NFL game lasts about 3 hours and 11 minutes, but has about 11 minutes of actual game play. The 60-minute game clock in football can run when the ball is not in play. That means much of game time is spent standing around, walking, huddling up before each play begins, etc.
The 11 minutes of action was calculated a few years ago by the Wall Street Journal. It actually averages out to between 11 and 14 minutes of play. (Counting from the snap of the football to when the play is whistled dead.)
An average game has more than 20 breaks containing over 100 commercials.
Its analysis found that an average NFL broadcast spent more time on replays (17 minutes) than live play. The majority of time (75 minutes) was spent watching players, coaches, and referees essentially wandering around the field.
An average play in the NFL lasts just four seconds and NFL teams average between 64 and120 plays per game.
If you take the highest paid star, Matthew Stafford, Detroit Lions and his 2017 salary of $27,000,000 and divide it by game minutes played per season of 16 games - 6 * 11= 176 minutes, $27 million divided by 176 minutes comes out to $153, 409.09 per minute of play - not bad. (Of course this presumes no playoff games for them, which is usually a safe assumption for the Lions.)
The hundreds of millions paid by advertisers to networks and the hundreds of millions paid by viewers to networks and the hundreds of millions paid to teams and players cannot be calculated according to minutes played as we and they are also paying for the rest of the twaddle, not just the game.
Incidentally,
Baseball: Per a 2013 WSJ study, Baseball games feature 17 minutes and 58 seconds of action.
Basketball: Since the clock only runs when the ball is in play, there is exactly 48 minutes of play time.
Soccer: Per the Soccerbythenumbers.com website 2011 study, between 57 and 65 minutes of ball-in-play action is seen on average in the major European pro leagues per game.
Hockey: Average play time is 60 minutes.
Neiman Marcus
Christmas is coming and Texas based Neiman Marcus unveiled its
annual fantasy gift collection.
Gifts range from $9 to $1.6 million. The 91st annual Christmas Book is a 300-page catalog with more than 780 items, nearly 50 percent of which are priced under $250. The most expensive is $1.6 million for a rooftop party for 300 people above Times Square on New Year's Eve. Two nights at 150 of the hotel's rooms are included, as is everything necessary for a private party with drinks, dinner, and a DJ.
Shoppers will also find Neiman’s annual fantasy gift collection, which includes 11 more extravagant presents like the Yours & Mine Rolls-Royce Limited Edition Dawns, a pair of vehicles that can be purchased in blue for $439,625 or orange for $445,750. Being conservative, I prefer the blue one, in case you are wondering what to get me.
Gifts range from $9 to $1.6 million. The 91st annual Christmas Book is a 300-page catalog with more than 780 items, nearly 50 percent of which are priced under $250. The most expensive is $1.6 million for a rooftop party for 300 people above Times Square on New Year's Eve. Two nights at 150 of the hotel's rooms are included, as is everything necessary for a private party with drinks, dinner, and a DJ.
Shoppers will also find Neiman’s annual fantasy gift collection, which includes 11 more extravagant presents like the Yours & Mine Rolls-Royce Limited Edition Dawns, a pair of vehicles that can be purchased in blue for $439,625 or orange for $445,750. Being conservative, I prefer the blue one, in case you are wondering what to get me.
Arnold Schwarzenegger
Before he was thirty, he already served
in the army and won numerous body building competitions, while
simultaneously going to business school and working at a health
club. Once he immigrated to America, he continued to compete in
bodybuilding competitions while also starting a bricklaying
business, which he then used the profits from to start a
mail-order business selling fitness related products like
workout instructional materials. He then used the profits from
that and his winnings in body building competitions to start a
real estate investing business, ultimately making him a
millionaire in his 20s, long before his breakthrough role at the
age of 35 in the 1982 Conan the Barbarian.
Google Tips
Use an asterisk within quotes to specify unknown or variable
words. Searching a phrase in quotes with an asterisk replacing a
word will search all variations of that phrase. It is helpful if
you cannot remember an entire phrase "imagine all the * living
for today", or if you are trying to find all forms of an
expression "* is thicker than water".
Compare foods using "vs." Type in "rice vs. quinoa," for example, and you will receive side-by-side comparisons of the nutritional facts.
Use "DEFINE:" to learn the meaning of words. Try "DEFINE: mortgage." For words that appear in the dictionary, you will be able to see etymology, a graph of its use over time, and the definition. It may also define slang words or acronyms.
Type "give me a love quote" or whatever topic you need a quote for.
Use "lyrics" in your search to have Google deliver lyrics of songs for you.
Compare foods using "vs." Type in "rice vs. quinoa," for example, and you will receive side-by-side comparisons of the nutritional facts.
Use "DEFINE:" to learn the meaning of words. Try "DEFINE: mortgage." For words that appear in the dictionary, you will be able to see etymology, a graph of its use over time, and the definition. It may also define slang words or acronyms.
Type "give me a love quote" or whatever topic you need a quote for.
Use "lyrics" in your search to have Google deliver lyrics of songs for you.
Rabbit Reproduction
We have all heard about 'breeding like rabbits', but few know
how prolific rabbits really are.
First, When a doe lets a buck know that she is ready to mate, he circles her, shows off his tail, and sometimes urinates on her. This is what passes for foreplay. Then, the act itself lasts about 20-40 seconds. A buck can mate up to 7 times a week effectively, sometimes twice a day.
The average rabbit reaches sexual maturity at 3-8 months old. They are receptive to mating about 14 of every 16 days. Their breeding season lasts three-quarters of the year, and a doe does not have a 'heat' cycle. They are ready to mate anytime. They also do not have a menstrual cycle, so pregnancy can happen anytime. The act of intercourse stimulates ovulation.
Rabbits gestate for about 29 to 31 days, and usually have litters of between 4 and 12 babies. Once the babies are born, a doe can mate and get pregnant again as soon as the following day. If they maintain a pace like that and all the babies survive, the large-litter breeds can have about 100 babies per season. During October through December, some rabbits go into molting and many do not conceive.
Incidentally, a rabbit is the only edible farm animal able to produce 1,000% of its own weight in offspring per year.
First, When a doe lets a buck know that she is ready to mate, he circles her, shows off his tail, and sometimes urinates on her. This is what passes for foreplay. Then, the act itself lasts about 20-40 seconds. A buck can mate up to 7 times a week effectively, sometimes twice a day.
The average rabbit reaches sexual maturity at 3-8 months old. They are receptive to mating about 14 of every 16 days. Their breeding season lasts three-quarters of the year, and a doe does not have a 'heat' cycle. They are ready to mate anytime. They also do not have a menstrual cycle, so pregnancy can happen anytime. The act of intercourse stimulates ovulation.
Rabbits gestate for about 29 to 31 days, and usually have litters of between 4 and 12 babies. Once the babies are born, a doe can mate and get pregnant again as soon as the following day. If they maintain a pace like that and all the babies survive, the large-litter breeds can have about 100 babies per season. During October through December, some rabbits go into molting and many do not conceive.
Incidentally, a rabbit is the only edible farm animal able to produce 1,000% of its own weight in offspring per year.
Mississippi Child Law
In Mississippi, it is illegal to have a second
illegitimate child - “If any person, who shall have previously
become the natural parent of an illegitimate child within or
without this state by coition within or without this state,
shall again become the natural parent of an illegitimate child
born within this state, he or she shall be guilty of a
misdemeanor and, upon conviction thereof, shall be punished by
imprisonment in the county jail for not less than thirty (30)
days nor more than ninety (90) days or by a fine of not more
than Two Hundred Fifty Dollars ($ 250.00), or both.” I do
not make this stuff up folks, only politicians can make these
types of laws.
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